So, here is Donaldson's 2023:
Five games, 16 ABs, 2 hits (.125) a HR and a million boos, a carryover from last October, when he totally crapped the bed. (In all of 2022, he hit .222 with 15 HRs.)
Last time we saw Donaldson, he was First Runner-Up on the Mr. Yankee Shit List, behind Aaron Hicks. As you know, if something happens to the reigning apex pariah, the First Runner-Up must assume all ceremonial duties. Hicks is in Baltimore. Donaldson is the new whipping mule. And if Jackie disappears tomorrow, I can't think of a replacement. In generating boos, nobody comes close.
This weekend, Donaldson will play against the Dodgers, though with games starting late, we might not get to boo the TV.
Meanwhile, Oswald Peraza will continue punishing Triple A pitchers for his lost spring. Last night, he hit his 10th HR and went 1-for-5, lowering his BA to - gulp - .340. No misprint. Three forty.
Peraza, 22, is the future. Donaldson, 37, is the past.
And yet, come Aug. 2, don't we all believe that Donaldson has a better chance of being a Yankee?
Look, I get it that the Death Barge should give Donaldson one last shot. Until 2022, he'd had a fine career. Supposedly, last winter, he revamped his swing. He fielded 3B decently (though not necessarily better than DJ.) If he hits, presumably, the Yankees could demand more for him in a trade.
Therein lies the rub...
No matter what Donaldson does over the next two months, his lead-infused contract will still crush whatever trade value he might have. If he hits, the front office will still be more likely to keep him and trade Peraza -with Estevan Florial, who is also having a banger season at Scranton.
To get anything, they must deal players that other teams actually covet. And nobody wants Donaldson's contract.
In theory, the best thing that could happen to the Yankees might be Donaldson going 0-for-30 and being banished to Ellsburian Double-Secret Probation. Otherwise, they might end up doing what no other team in baseball - or all of sports, for that matter - would do:
Keep the 37 year-old, and trade the 22 year-old.
Insert sigh here.
Believe it or not, I'm rooting for Donaldson. We're on the edge of a pennant race, and our roster - aka The Glass Menagerie - is a broken turnstile of tweaked gonads. Someone's something will snap, and maybe Peraza will get his chance.
But the Yankees don't change their ways. If they think Donaldson can play 3B, Peraza's future is in Oakland or KC. And it's sad that we even have to think about such possibilities.
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Once again, it all boils down to Cashman and the Bloated Front Office. I hope that with the hiring of Sabean and Minaya there's some kind of implied committee approach or backstop for Cashman's follies.
Donaldson's leash is a lot longer than 0 for 30. It's at least 0 for 200. All he has to do to stick is get one hit in 200 at bats and he'll be here for the rest of the year, unless he gets hurt and lands the IL again, of course. He will probably manage to get that hit. Although with his declining skills, you never know.
Seems like Peraza is joining Florial on the pariah list. We thought .350 with power was the criteria for a call up. Maybe now it's .450 with power.
Come on now Hammer - - - it’s .180 with no power
Not that I ever want to be, but to be fair, I believe Peraza is technically still on a rehab stint.
And AA, you forgot the required 40% strikeout rate.
The Yankees didn't include Peraza in their offers for pitching at last year's trade deadline and since then, all he's done is prove himself.
I have to believe they still see him as the future.
Donaldson is gone no matter what at the end of the year. So he doesn't matter at all in terms of where they are going. If he hits that would be good because he is a black hole. But, there is no way they will extend him in any way.
No other team will want to sign him either. He is done after the year and will/should retire.
Hopefully, he recognizes this and is able to finish strong. If not, and he truly continues to suck, the Hicks departure showed that the Yankees are finally willing to eat the money (a sunk cost anyway) and give someone else the at bats.
So, they will probably chuck him after the All-Star break.
Does anyone know if they are giving Peraza more games at third down in Scranton? They should.
Carl, I openly opined my thoughts here regarding the dynamic duo (Sabean and Minaya) at least twice before, pointing out that they must put down their water noodles (the foam kind) whilst aimlessly wandering around their retirement home pools long enough to field the frequent Calls from Cash on their Saran Wrap covered cells to chime in on any pertinent news of the day.
My source reported back to me that Sabes is prone to pool piddle, especially during a heated and/or animated exchange.
Minaya just smiles a lot and tries to blow bubbles thru his noodle (foam again)
My apologies Roofy, the strike out rate was implied
Doug,
1 game at 3B, 3 at 2B, 19 at SS.
Although oddly, he's *listed* as at 3B.
Which is a very good sign.
This guy has the starts at 3B:
https://www.milb.com/player/andres-chaparro-665953
If the Yanks feel good about Peraza, we will know at the trading deadline. I still think they move Torres around then...
A thought (a rarity for me!)…send Volpe to Scranton and have him get used to 2B. Peraza comes up, plays SS until the TD. Make an honest attempt to move Torres at the deadline, install Volpe at 2B. Some ifs and maybes here, but if you squint a little you can see it.
Re: Peraza and Florial
I thought what they did to Miggy (Andujar) was tragic. He became injured, and they (basically) threw him over the side.
I was CERTAIN that shedding him was a mistake the NYYs would come to regret. Sure, he had no position. But the SOB could hit. Remember all of those doubles he hit (47) in 2018???
In 2003, according to MLB.com, he has 1 double and 2 HR in 31 plate appearances. On-base % of .212.
SO: I was wrong about Miggy. VERY.
Sevy vs Kershaw TONIGHT in the Ravine.
I'm looking forward to some baseball entertainment.
Jackie could play great and I'd still dislike the bastard. He's a jerk.
The only consolation is that 37-year-old hammies tend to go Ping!
BTW...ICS has HRs in back to back games for SD...
Joe
"In 2003, according to MLB.com, he has 1 double and 2 HR in 31 plate appearances. On-base % of .212."
Give Miggy a break! That's an unbelievably great stat line for a guy who was eight years old at the time. :)
Donaldson's a Dick!
Minaya and Sabean? This, as someone else aptly put it, is front-office bloat--and an intimation that Cashman is so stupid and incompetent that he needs double backup. Unfortunately, neither of those second-stringers is really a rigorous analytics guy, so the organization will still be consulting ouija boards and dumbass scouts and "hunches" until the baseball-hating dunce of an owner sells the team. This approach is the equivalent of playing blackjack with a self-proclaimed psychic as your advicor instead of using an odds chart or trying to count cards or doing anything that is, you know, EVIDENCE-BASED.
I don't think you need an Analytical department to tell you Jackie assholeson is washed up AND a clubhouse cancer.
Just good baseball people.
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